Believe it or not, buying a house with bad credit is possible. One friend told me that most mortgage companies wanted to know if you have enough income and could make the monthly payments on time.

Credit is important but it isn’t all a bank or mortgage company is interested in. You can even qualify for 100% financing. Bring up all your positive attributes and get the mortgage company to see that you are still a good risk even though you have had some financial difficulties in the past.

You will go through an income verification process before being approved for your home loan and if you make an appropriate amount of money your mortgage company will approve you and you will see that even with bad credit buying a house is possible.

One thing you can do to make buying a house with bad credit much, much easier is to come up with a down payment. Your mortgage company can usually work with bad credit issues if you can put down some money on your loan. A good average down payment should range anywhere from 5-20%. Save the money if you can or borrow from family and if these are not options for you try to get a personal loan or apply for a grant.

Grants will take the longest to get so do not expect to be able to use one readily unless you apply for and receive one prior to applying for a loan to buy your house.

It is possible, too, to get what is called an 80-20 loan. This is when you basically have two loans on your new house, one for 80 percent of the purchase price of the house and one for 20 percent. You will have two separate payments to make. Each loan is a separate entity and if you do end up running into some difficulty each loan can be sold to separate loan servicing companies so you will have to make your payments to different companies. The loans cannot be combined into one.

If you cannot come up with a down payment, this can also be dealt with and worked around by agreeing to pay for private mortgage insurance. Private mortgage insurance is an aspect of buying a home that protects the mortgage company from the borrower defaulting on the loan and makes it possible to purchase a property with no down payment and bad credit.

Private mortgage insurance amounts vary and depend on the amount of your loan. You may pay as little as $20 per month or more. The mortgage company will determine what you will pay based on the amount of the loan you have been approved for. If you continue to make your payments on time it is possible that you will be able to drop the private mortgage insurance after a few years.

Encouraging the mortgage company to concentrate on the positive things about your financial life make buying a house with bad credit easier than you might think.

Real estate investments are often treated as one the best ways of investing money. However, what you are looking for is not just any real estate investment, but real estate investment that can give you good returns. By real estate investment, we mean investing money into property i.e. buying property at a low price and selling it at a higher price so as to make a profit out of it. So the most important part of good real estate investment is to get hold of such properties which can give you good returns.

Now, how can you get these potential profit-making deals? Your first avenue for finding good deals is the local newspaper. Just search for properties that are listed directly by the owners who want to avoid paying commission to the real estate brokers. Since the owner is saving on the commission that they would otherwise have to pay to the broker, they would probably be able to offer a lower price to you and be more open to negotiations. You could also place your own ‘wanted’ ad in the local newspapers. On the same lines, you could use the internet to search for real estate investment avenues. In fact, you would be astonished by the number of real estate investment opportunities you are able to locate on the internet. Not only that, searching for real estate investment opportunities is much easier on the internet than anywhere else.

Another good way to hunt for real estate investment opportunities is by using the services of real estate brokers. Some people use real estate agents as their first touch point for getting real estate investment opportunities. The real estate agents act as an information hub for people looking to buy property. In fact, a lot of sellers find it much more convenient to sell their properties by listing it with real estate agents.

Multiple listings service is another good way to find real estate investment opportunities. Since the multiple listing book is provided only to the real estate agents and not to the general, all the good deals would have already been taken before you get to see the book. The key here is to look for expired listings that didn’t get converted to a deal. Another good way to get a property, that is a good real estate investment, is to look for foreclosures by banks or to visit public auctions. You can generally get a good deal here. Divorce settlements are another good real estate investment opportunity.

So, real estate investment is really about finding good deals. And finding good deals does take some effort.